


Point of Oblivion

by Nynaeve



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Challenge Response, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Resolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-11
Updated: 2010-10-11
Packaged: 2017-10-18 14:24:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/189804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nynaeve/pseuds/Nynaeve
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Once again Kathryn Janeway stares down death with Chakotay by her side. Set post-season 7 as an AU where they never got home and where there is no C/7. Ever. Fleeting reference to Mosaic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Point of Oblivion

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Heartwings](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Heartwings).



> _A/N 1: Written for Heartwings for VAMB's Secret Drabble 2010 (barely kept under 2000 words…). She provided the first line and well…I took it from there…_
> 
>  _A/N 2: I have a strong distaste for song!fic as they are traditionally done. If I think a song is right for a story, I incorporate the song into the story – lyrics as dialogue, images as memory, and if it's not an anachronism, you might hear a character play with the radio for half a second (which never works for Star Trek). Most of my "song!fic" is only maybe 10-15% enhanced by knowing the song. This fic is almost 75% enhanced by knowing the song – go find it – it's well worth the dollar you'll pay for it. Inspired by "Glitter in the Air" by P!NK_

Janeway's eyes glazed over as she fell into her chair and replied, "Chakotay, those are two words I never thought I would hear come out of your mouth." Then her entire body went limp and her first officer jumped into full alert, assessing the status of the smoky bridge, trying to see if there was anyone to assist.

Tom's form cut through as he dragged himself off the floor and stumbled towards the command team. They had taken a brutal hit but thanks to the helmsman's skill, and unnatural good luck, they'd gotten away. For now. The lieutenant had grabbed an emergency med kit from under Chakotay's chair and was forcing Kathryn's eyes open so he could see her pupils. She'd fallen against the metal bar and the sickening crack had been loud even over the klaxons. Somehow she'd pulled herself to her feet and made it as far as her chair before collapsing.

"You have to get her to Sickbay. Now." The hitch in Tom's breathing and the tight expression screamed urgency.

Chakotay hauled Kathryn into his arms and made his way to the turbolift without a second thought. He prayed the lift would work as he had no idea how he would take her through the Jeffries tubes.

"I'll make sure they work," Tom reassured, pushing past him.

It took every ounce of strength the pilot had, but he managed to pry open the lift. The hiss of the doors shutting left Chakotay in the dark with his captain. Gingerly he laid her down, and not a moment too soon, as the small enclosure lit up and started its descent. Then it halted abruptly.

"Chakotay..." the familiar, throaty voice choked out.

He dropped down next to her and put himself directly in her line of sight. Kathryn struggled to focus on him, but his face was obscured by the flickering spots in her eyes. Trying to look at him was too hard, so she made the natural decision to let herself drift back into the black.

 _She always thought there was an ethereal appearance to people as they glittered back into existence from a transport. His broad shoulders and firm footing made her think of an angel from old stories in the half-second he was partly there and partly not. It was a fleeting, barely registered comparison, of course. He was her prey._

"Dammit, keep your eyes open!" he growled in Kathryn's ear and her eyes snapped open again. The confusion in her expression made adrenaline pump into his system in overtime. "Talk to me."

The injured woman blinked and tried to remember where she was. Bright, white lights. The ice planet. She had to save them. Chakotay was looking down at her and she shuddered. She had to tell him to save _them_. He never failed to do what she asked. If she could make her mouth say the words...

"Water..."

He couldn't recall if he was supposed to give her anything but if she was thirsty... Paris had dropped the med kit just inside the door and when he flipped it open he found a pathetic container of water. Still, it was something, and he held it up to her lips, his fingers on the neck bottle to help steady the stream.

 _He, with his dimples in full force, had just split open a red-fleshed fruit Neelix had pointed out as being sweet. Juice droplets had splattered on his uniform and his fingers were drenched. Pulling out a chunk he held it out to her. Kathryn, without thinking, plucked it from his pinch with her lips. He sucked in a breath and their eyes met, his gaze smoldering._

"Stay with me," Chakotay muttered, dropping the water next to her. She kept falling in and out of consciousness. Why the hell wouldn't the lift start up again? Had he made the wrong decision? Too many times he had been on this side forced to try to save her life. Prayers he had mocked his father for as a child came muddled through his panicked mind.

A lazy smile crossed her visage. "I take it black..."

The tattooed froze as he was about to touch her cheek. She was unfocused and clearly not _with_ him. Chakotay tapped his comm badge, knowing it wouldn't do anything. It gave the expected disappointing down tone chirp. Frustration made him want to crush it under his heel, but he funneled the energy into hunting through the supplies for something, anything, that could make the situation better.

 _She was so tired. Her body ached, her ship was in shambles, and the Hirogen were stalking them. Chakotay was a dead man walking as he crossed her ready room from the replicator. Somehow he'd rigged the damn thing to work. She was going to chastise him for wasting time but then he held out his prize. A steaming mug of coffee._

"Where..."

Scrambling back over to Kathryn, he didn't hesitate to cup her face to gently turn her head. For a brief second she narrowed in on him, but then she began to fade.

"You can't go yet, Kathryn. You're needed by this crew, you need to get us home," he argued fervently, wanting break through to the part of her that was a survivor. "Don't abandon me now."

Again realization dawned on her and Chakotay almost shouted in victory. Gently he clasped her hand and fought the sting behind his eyes. There wasn't any time left. There was never enough damn time.

Kathryn squinted, the tendrils in her mind unable to hold onto her goal for too long. Stay awake, she knew that much, but she couldn't put the pieces of the puzzle together. The white light had to be the moon, but then how had she gotten so close to the moon? Which planet did the moon belong to? It reminded her of a place far away that she couldn't go back to, but she needed to.

"I don't want to leave," she murmured, a tear trickling down her temple.

The turbolift jolted back to life.

 _Her arm linked in his, Chakotay and Kathryn walked in the moonlight towards a field they had planned to camp at one night. That was before the call. The stars were a million pin pricks in the sky, foreign and yet...not. Sensing her hesitation, he stopped, and she laid her head on his arm, etching the moment in her memory so she could hold onto it forever._

o-o-o-o-o-o

The impervious Captain Janeway had made it. She felt triumphant (if not a bit light-headed) and she hoped to celebrate with Chakotay. They'd reveled in her cheating death, him cheating death, more times than she could count. Some might the think the universe was out to get them. She preferred to believe they were quick on their feet.

The bottle of wine in her hand had gotten a few sly glances from crew as she had traveled in the turbolift down to crew quarters. She knew it wasn't the bottle that had them eyeing her surreptitiously so much as the green dress that hugged her hips in all the right ways. Kathryn rang Chakotay's chime once and then he was standing in front of her. His brown eyes flicked up and down the length of her figure before taking the bottle from her grasp.

"A gift from the president of the last planet we were at?" he half inquired, half commented as he broke the wax seal and poured.

"He said it was tradition to drink it after a period of unusually good luck. I thought this was as apt a time as any," she replied, accepting a cup of the sparkling beverage. "I wanted to thank you."

Chakotay swirled the glass and lingered over his drink for a second. "You were pretty out of it."

"I remember bits and pieces. A lot of it is confusing - one minute I'd be on the bridge, then I'd be in some lost memory, then I was in the turbolift...I haven't been able to process all of it," she admitted, sitting down on his sofa.

He followed suit and took a long sip. They sat in silence, drinking, thinking, neither one wanting to yet again acknowledge how close the end had seemed. These were the precious times, cherished by both - an uninterrupted day in transit with no one to answer to but each other.

"I wanted to ask you..." he trailed off and cleared his throat. "What did you think I said when you passed out in your chair?"

Kathryn quickly put her glass to her lips and the hint of red tinged her cheeks. Setting her glass on the table, she averted her gaze. "It all blurs together."

"If you don't remember, it's okay. I was just curious."

The quiet descended on them again, but Kathryn didn't pick up her glass. Instead she stared at her hands for a full minute.

"Marry me," she said so softly he almost wasn't sure he heard her say anything. Chakotay couldn't help but start coughing.

"Excuse me?"

She closed her eyes and a tear escaped. "I thought you said...anyway, like I said, everything is blurry. I had a lot of memories cascading together and I'm not sure what I was...how much alcohol is in that damn drink?"

Tenderly he reached over and took her hand. "I don't know that I'd propose on the Bridge, but I do know that it isn't entirely improbable that we could be together. It's been almost seven years and it doesn't look like our journey is going to end anytime soon."

"I've lost two fiancés, Chakotay," Kathryn confessed looking at him with a longing that made his heart stop. "Right now I can order you on that shuttle or on the mission because I'm already going home to an empty bed."

He slid closer to her and took her face in his palm. "If we were back in the Alpha Quadrant I'd ask for a transfer, but we're here and what good does it do anyone if you get us back at the expense of yourself?"

The way she leaned into his touch, allowing him to caress her cheek with his thumb, the hunger that exuded from every pore drew him to kiss her for the first time. Kathryn tilted her head to accept him, her own need for human contact, for _him_ , overriding whatever voice she'd been listening to for years. Her breath was short when he pulled back. Her lips were satisfyingly fuller, the blacks of her eyes wider, and her own hands had found his arms.

"Let's start slow," she relented without regret. "Dinner tomorrow night?"

Still holding her chin he nodded with a smile. "I'll cook."

Reluctantly they separated, Kathryn trembling ever so slightly at the loss of his warmth. Then she was strong again, her features schooled, with the hints of a smile at the corner of her mouth.

"You should know, if you play your cards right, I might stay for coffee after dinner," she teased, taking a deep quaff, her demeanor confident.

Chakotay could only grin. Coffee had never sounded so good.

The End


End file.
